Previews

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

Differences aside, both games feature similar gameplay. This year rolls out what Konami has dubbed TeamVision. It means that the CPU AI, both teammate and opponent, adjusts on the fly to your gameplay techniques. It's tough to notice the first time you pick up a controller, but over time you'll begin to see your reliance on certain moves get carved apart. If you're too dependent on longer through balls, the computer will eventually position a defender close to your intended receiver and start running up to snatch the ball away. In order to successfully touch the back of the net, it'll take some variations; all of you "rush n' cross" players out there will get smacked down hard by defense on the higher settings.

After rolling out several demo rounds, the differences between AI types becomes more apparent. A few rounds with Brazil under our belts revealed the diversity of team play styles. Both the Spanish and Turkish teams played a bit more wildly and chaotically. The Portuguese team is far more aggressive in play style, and Argentina counter-attacks hard. Perhaps the toughest team of all to play against is France. It's not clear whether it's because Konami has spent more time implementing the French team's AI, but damned if the defense and back midfielders like Makelele don't crowd together to thwart you when you're on a good run at goal.

The refereeing in PES 2008 is some of the toughest we've encountered in the series. In past titles, the ref mostly stayed out of the action, except for egregious fouls of the crimson-carded variety. In the new game, however, we got yellow cards for putting basic pressure on a ball carrier. It's not clear whether this is an AI issue that needs tweaking, or Konami's forcing your hand to jockey and jostle for the ball, much like EA has done with FIFA 08.

Either way, there's an even stronger emphasis on fair play than before, and we hope that it gets reeled in a little, or that we can at least bribe refs like Juventus. No, really; it's too strict. Another AI problem that needs attention lies with teammates. They're constantly offsides, more than we've ever seen in a PES game. No one likes to have a good run ruined by a pass to an open player who's too far past defenders to make the play count. Hopefully it's a loose pattern that'll get tightened up.

To compound the problem, there's a new camera for penalty shots, and woe be unto you if you foul an opponent in the box. We can't help but think of the boss battle in Battletoads in which you had to throw rocks at a cannon-toting surveillance camera from the camera's point of view. The camera is positioned at one corner of the goal around the net, so that you're seeing all of the action with the penalty kicker facing you, rather than the default soccer game camera in which the kicker's back is turned away from the camera. It will drive you mad, and it's probably not going anywhere.

After all that playing time, we can now see some of the subtleties in the new game. For most of you, TeamVision won't become apparent until you've fruitlessly failed at several through passes up the field to a teammate, or five defenders have squashed your umpteenth attempt to work around them toward the goal. The new implementation has its strengths, and currently, it's got some weaknesses, too. Teammates need to be reined in; they ran offsides too often during the demo, and the referees seem to be too strict. Aside from that, there are differences between the HD-gen consoles, but it still looks like it will be a solid game on both platforms, moreso than we thought after playing in Leipzig. It's just too bad that U.S. soccer fans have to wait four more months for it.